sign in sign up
<<
Home , Beijing Ducks, Huanggu District, Jinzhou, Liaoning, Liaoxi, Lingyuan

September 1, 1992 Volume 4, Issue No. 23

China: Political Prisoners Abused in ProvinProvincece as Official Whitewash of Labor Reform System Continues

The Chinese government, in an on-going public relations campaign, is attempting to portray 's vast labor reform system as, first and foremost, a humane method for turning criminals into model citizens through industrial production1. The output, officials repeatedly claim, is negligible, targeted primarily to the needs of the prison system itself and only incidentally to other sectors of the domestic economy. In three previous reports,2 Asia Watch has discredited the government's insistence that prison-made labor products are not for export. And Asia Watch and other human rights monitoring organizations have repeatedly exposed the appalling conditions in the vast Chinese gulag.3

1 White Paper on Criminal Reform in China, Information Office of the State Council, August 11, 1992.

2 Asia Watch, "Prison Labor in China," News from Asia Watch, vol. 3, no. 11; "Forced Labor Exports from China: Update No. 1, News from Asia Watch, vol. 3, no. 19; "Forced Labor Exports from China: Update No. 2," News from Asia Watch, vol. 3, no. 25.

3 See for example, Asia Watch, Anthems of Defeat: Crackdown in Province (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992); Asia Watch,

Now, two documents (Appendix I and Appendix II),4 obtained by Asia Watch, graphically illustrate the gulf between the government's whitewash and inmates' accounts of conditions in Chinese labor camps. And other new information (Appendix V) further discredits the Chinese government's claim that prison- made products are not for export.

All materials refer to the vast Labor Reform complex, which is located in an ethnic Mongol enclave in the remote western portion of the northeastern coastal province of Liaoning and is known to the outside world as "Lingyuan Motor Vehicle Industrial Corporation of Liaoning Province." One document, the authenticity of which Asia Watch has independently confirmed, is a recent account by a group of political prisoners of the torture and deprivation they endured from the time they arrived in Lingyuan until July 1992 when the document was smuggled out. Another document, an official version, is a glowing history of the development of Lingyuan as a prison-production complex. It was written by a chief of the Second Department of the Lingyuan Labor Reform Sub-Bureau of Liaoning Province which administers the facility. The article, which appeared in a 1992 neibu (restricted circulation) journal, Fanzui Yu Gaizao Yanjiu (Researches in Crime and Reform) makes perfectly clear that Lingyuan is one vast penal colony whose production is vital to China's automotive industry and to its overall industrial development.

Many political prisoners from the 1989 pro-democracy movement are currently held at Lingyuan. The best-known of these is probably Liu Gang, a close colleague and collaborator of Juntao and Chen Ziming, who are now both serving 13-year prison sentences for their alleged roles as the "black hands" behind the 1989 pro-democracy movement. So impressed have the authorities been with Lingyuan's contribution to the overall suppression of the 1989 movement, that on October 17, 1990 the Ministry of Justice awarded the Lingyuan Labor Reform Sub-Bureau the designation of "Outstanding Collective in Curbing the Turmoil and Suppressing the Counterrevolutionary Rebellion."

The official account

"Yao Yongzhan: A Year in a Chinese Prison," News from Asia Watch, vol. 2, no. 14; Asia Watch and Tibet Information Network, Political Prisoners in Tibet (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992).

4 Appendix IV adds detail to the information about Liu Gang in Appendix I.

According to the official version, Lingyuan penal colony, since its inception in 1958, has "successfully reformed historical counterrevolutionaries, Guomingdang war criminals, secret agents sent by the and the Jiang (Chiang Kai-shek) clique, female prisoners, those sentenced to be re-educated through labor, and large numbers of common criminals of all categories." It now houses six labor reform detachments spread over 3.3 million square meters. As a "key enterprise" of Liaoning Province and an important component of China's national motor vehicle development plan, it manufactures trucks and tractor-trailers and their component parts including engines, oil pumps and caterpillar treads. There are 160,000 square meters of factory floor space and fixed assets, including an asbestos mine, rail lines and manufacturing equipment worth some 147,070,000 ($24,511,667).

There is no way of knowing how many prisoners and ex-prisoners5 currently work in the complex, but the official version makes clear that starting in 1958, some "45,000 prisoners and ex-prisoners undergoing reform or re-education through labor6 or employed in different units, began the pioneering work of building a new city...." Extensive growth is implied by reference to:

ten county level units with their own nurseries, kindergartens, primary and middle schools, a police academy, TV university, a motor vehicle research institute, department stores, bath houses, hospitals, liquefied gas stations, cinemas, hostels, a TV station...

More chilling is the description of the system in place to control prison workers:

As regards the reform of prisoners, the control and supervision facilities have gone from simple and crude to the sophisticated. Education has become more penetrating. Tall prison buildings have replaced the tents and single-storied buildings. High walls, live wire entanglements, watch towers and electrically operated gates have replaced the straw ropes and barbed wires. The various detachments have acquired prison vans, police cars, motorcycles, walkie talkies and alarm systems. Some detachments have installed monitoring devices. The procedures and measures of control and supervision have been perfected all the way from detention to release.

What is markedly clear is the contrast between the official version of the methods used in the "successful reform of tens of thousands of convicts" and the prisoner's own account. The official version allows a prisoner to "accumulate credits to improve his situation" and features vocational and technical training schools and recreational activities such as "calligraphy and painting exhibitions, intelligence and athletic competitions...literary groups...Spring Festival dances." The prisoners' account is a chilling tale of beatings by policeman and common criminals, foul living conditions, torture, degradation

5 It is common practice in China to forcibly and indefinitely retain prisoners who have completed their sentences (Asia Watch, "Prison Labor in China," News from Asia Watch, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 2-3.

6 Re-education through labor is an administratively imposed sentence of no more than three years' duration, which may be arbitrarily extended for a fourth year. A Re-education Through Labor Management Committee, composed of cadres from several organizations is supposed to impose the sentence. In reality, the committee is dominated by the Public Security Bureau. The prisoner never comes before judicial authorities nor is he permitted benefit of counsel.

Asia Watch 333 September 1, 1992

and daily deprivation.

The prisoners' account

In April 1991, eleven political prisoners, all participants in the April-May 1989 pro-democracy movement in China, arrived at Lingyuan No.2 Labor Reform Detachment, known euphemistically as Lingyuan Motor Vehicle General Assembly Plant, in Liaoning Province in China's northeast. Among the group were workers, students and intellectuals. For some, torture began the moment they stepped out of the prison van. For some it was continuous for months on end.

Joined by other political inmates, members of the group went on hunger strike in November 1991, the week before then Secretary of State James Baker went to , to call attention to their appalling condition and to demand that the policies outlined in China's human rights white paper7 be implemented within the brigade. An earlier prisoners' document, Urgent Appeal: Please Have Concern for the Dissidents in Lingyuan Prison, reported the abuses, psychological and physical pressure to change political views, beatings and torture, fourteen-hour workdays, tiny punishment cells, isolation, insufficient rations.

Prison authorities declared the strike "an act of resisting reform and even a prison uprising." Requests by the men's relatives for information went unanswered; and the strike was forcibly ended by prison authorities.8 The new document provides additional details about conditions prior to the strike, the strike itself and its brutal aftermath.

A second hunger strike, beginning on New Year's Day 1992 to demand that prisoners be permitted to see their families, was equally forcefully put down with beatings, torture and isolation. The police commander even told one prisoner:

It is my duty to beat you. It is for your reform. So you want to stage a hunger strike? Go ahead. Labor reform detachments aren't afraid of deaths! When one does, we'll bury one. When two die, we'll bury a pair.

Three of the eleven prisoners sent to Lingyuan in April 1991 came from Beijing prisons, Liu Gang, Ming and Kong Xianfeng.9 Liu, a physics graduate, and Zhang, an automotive engineering student at Qinghua University, were both on the Chinese government's "wanted list" of 21 Beijing student leaders. They were sentenced in January and February 1991 to six-year and three-year terms respectively. Liu was charged with "sedition" for allegedly organizing student leaders from all the major colleges as part of the

7 , Information Office of the State Council, November 1991.

8 During the strike several of the prisoners were force fed. One of them, Liu Gang, reportedly had his arm broken during the feeding. Asia Watch has learned that an undated photograph released in May 1992 by Chinese authorities showing a healthy Liu playing volleyball, was actually taken prior to the strike.

9 Zhang Ming and Kong Xianfeng were released from prison in the spring of 1992, Kong after completion of his sentence and Zhang apparently on some form of parole.

Asia Watch 444 September 1, 1992

pro-democracy movement and for his part in organizing campus discussion groups. Zhang, a key figure in the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation, was charged with "inciting subversion against the people's government and the overthrowing of the socialist system." There is no information about Kong, who was also sentenced in early 1991 to a three-year term.

Eight of the eleven who arrived at Lingyuan on April 22 came from Province. Li Wei, Tang Yuanjuan and Leng Wanbao, workers at the No.1 Motor Vehicle Plant in Jilin Province, were tried in November 1990 and sentenced three months later to prison terms of 13, 20 and 8 years respectively for allegedly "actively taking part in a counterrevolutionary group" and for taking leading roles in a peaceful demonstration in support of the hunger strikers in Tiananmen Square. Asia Watch had no information about one of the Jilin men, An Fuxing, until August 24, 1992, when it obtained a partial list of political prisoners held at Lingyuan No.2 Labor Reform Detachment (see Appendix III).

Six other prisoners are mentioned in the document, but it is unclear which of them were part of the eleven who arrived together. Liang Liwei, part of the Changchun Motor Vehicle Plant group, received a three-year-prison sentence. Li Dejun, formerly a teacher at a middle school in Liaoning, allegedly incited workers, peasants and students to establish a multi-party system in China. A Chinese government response to U.S. State Department inquiries acknowledged that he had been sentenced to prison, but no details were provided. Si Wei and Li Jie were unknown to Asia Watch prior to the receipt of the new list. There is still no information about Tian Guangming and Chi Mengzhu other than what appears in the prisoners' account. Of the 23 prisoners on the new list, at least ten more were previously unknown to Asia Watch. Some have received long prison terms; others, sentenced to two or three years in prison, may have already been released.

Export of prisonprison----mademade goods

The sheer scale of prison-made exports from Liaoning Province is astounding. As Appendix V makes clear, products from this one part of the vast Chinese gulag, go to some 48 countries and range from personal items such as hair tonics and cosmetics to sophisticated electrical equipment. tools, automobiles, trucks and their component parts, chemicals, electrical equipment, footwear and foodstuffs all go out from Liaoning, many to the U.S. Vitrified Quartz and Diabase Cast Stone Product Factory, which manufactures fused quartz, semiconductors and precision optical items for use in military space flight and in nuclear industries. It clearly states in the sales catalogue of Yining Enterprises Incorporation Liaoning Province,

Since our city has opened to the outside world, businessmen from U.S.A., and Hongkong etc. have come one after another to hold business talks, set up joint ventures and cooperate with us.

Conclusion

As provided for in the Memorandum of Understanding on investigation of prison imports, signed by the U.S. and China on August 7, 1992, inspection of Lingyuan Motor Vehicle General Assembly Plant and other forced-labor units in Liaoning Province by U.S. officials has now become a matter of great urgency. If the Memorandum is to have any practical effect at all in curbing the export of Chinese prison-made goods to the U.S., it is vital that the extensive evidence of such exports from Liaoning Province presented in this

Asia Watch 555 September 1, 1992

report be raised with the Chinese authorities at a senior level and permission for prompt, on-site inspection access by U.S. officials to the various prison and labor-reform enterprises in the province be sought.

Asia Watch also urges the Chinese government immediately to provide all political prisoners in Liaoning with a regime fully consistent with the United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and that it permit regular access to, in particular, the Lingyuan No.2 Labor Reform Detachment and other components of the Lingyuan prison complex by acknowledged international humanitarian organizations.

Asia Watch 666 September 1, 1992

APPENDIX I

July 1992

The Ordeal of Political Prisoners in Lingyuan PrisoPrisonn Yet Another Page in China's "Glorious" Human RightsRights Record

In the early morning of April 22, 1991, a prison van left the Great North Prison in , carrying eleven political prisoners who were convicted for their part in the "June 4" pro-democracy movement. Among them were Liu Gang and Zhang Ming, student leaders who were on the most wanted list, and Tang Yuanjuan, an assistant engineer of the No.1 Motor Works (Changchun City), who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Liu Gang, Zhang Ming and Kong Xianfeng were tried and sentenced by Beijing courts;10 the other eight were convicted by the Jilin provincial courts. That afternoon, they were sent under guard to the Lingyuan No.2 Labor Reform Detachment in Liaoning Province. That outfit is known to the outside world as the "Lingyuan Motor Vehicle General Assembly Plant." It makes the "Linghe" motor vehicles, some of which are exported to , the Philippines and three other Southeast Asian countries, under the brand name of "Huanghe" (Yellow River).

As soon as they got off the prison van, a policeman assaulted Li Wei, who was already skinny and weak, with an electric prod. Li Wei was a skilled worker at the No.1 Motor Works. He received a 13-year sentence for allegedly joining a counterrevolutionary group and conducting counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement. Li Yang, the police commander (currently serving as a section chief of the prison administration), told them menacingly: "This is just to show you what is in store for you if you don't behave. When you are assigned to the detachment, things can be much worse!" They were assigned, together with other political prisoners from Liaoning and Jilin Provinces who were convicted for their part in the pro-democracy movement, to the No.1 Squad of the training brigade, to be supervised by six common criminals (murderers and rapists trusted by the prison authorities).

From April 22 to May 29, the prison authorities gave the political prisoners a "prison orientation course." Each and every one of them was required to recite from memory the "standards of conduct for criminals undergoing reform." That was, in essence, a way to instill "criminal consciousness" into them. Liu Gang and the other political prisoners were disgusted with the course. On May 29, the No.2 Detachment gave those of the training brigade a third test on the "standards of conduct for criminals undergoing reform." Liu Gang and ten other newly arrived political prisoners refused to take the test, as a protest against the prison authorities for trying to instill into them "criminal consciousness" against their will. Policemen and members of a unit directly under the labor reform detachment (consisting of those criminals who were willing to serve the government as hatchet men and cell bosses, and thus were allowed much greater freedom than the others) who were alerted beforehand, pounced on the political

10 Zhang Ming and Kong Xianfeng were released from prison in the spring of 1992, Kong after completing his sentence and Zhang on parole.

Asia Watch 777 September 1, 1992

prisoners and beat them up. Liu Gang and five others were shackled with leg and thrown either into a tiny solitary confinement cell (xiaohao) or a strict regime unit. The other five were allowed to stay in the brigade to be "corrected" there. For days, the authorities tortured them, trying to break their spirit.

Tang Yuanjuan, An Fuxing, Zhang Ming and Leng Wanbao were confined in tiny solitary confinement cells measuring two meters by a meter. It was cold and damp. They were tortured continuously, stripped naked, held down on the floor and assaulted repeatedly with several high-voltage (varying from 10,000 to 50,000 volts)11 electric batons12 simultaneously administered to their head, neck, shoulders, chest, belly, armpit, inside part of the leg, and fingers. They went on hunger strike to protest the brutality, only to make matters worse. The baton used to torture Tang Yuanjuan ran out of power. Two of his ribs were broken as he was kicked by a guard wearing leather boots. Leng Wanbao remained silent as he was tortured. A prison guard pried his mouth open and stuck the baton into it. An Fuxing became sick and was hospitalized in a state of shock. But as soon as he was released from the hospital, he was tortured with electric batons by Yang Guoping (at the time, he was the brigade commander, later promoted to be a section chief of the prison administration) and others. Liu Gang and Kong Xianfeng, who were sent to the "strict regime" unit, were also tortured by four or five electric batons administered simultaneously. Kong Xianfeng was bleeding behind his ears, and Liu Gang's private parts were assaulted. Those who were allowed to remain in the No.1 and 2 Squads of the training brigade to "reflect" on their "mistakes," were also tortured.

On June 4, 1991, Li Jie, a political prisoner from Jilin Province, staged a one-day hunger strike. The brigade commander, Yang Guoping, assembled all the prisoners of the training brigade to a meeting. They dragged Li Jie to the front of the stage, stripped him naked, and had several common criminals (cell bosses) hold him down on the floor. Yang Guoping then applied a huge 50,000-volt electric baton repeatedly to the inside part of Li's leg. Two guards used four 5,000-10,000-volt electric batons on his head, neck, shoulder armpits, chest, belly and fingers. Li Jie sweated profusely, went in to spasms and then became motionless. It was horrible. While torturing Li Jie, Yang Guoping blustered out: "Do you want to eat now? You are refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit. I will make you an example. You dare to go on hunger strike even here in the labor reform brigade? So you want to pay homage to those who died on June 4. They died as they deserved. If you are tired of living, just say so. Why ravage yourself? We can help you....So you think you're great. Then don't eat. If you want to eat, you will have to be given electric shocks first. We keep giving you the electric baton treatment so you will be impressed. Let's see if you will make trouble again. As long as you keep up your counterrevolutionary actions, we will never relent!"

Since June, prisoners of the training brigade have been forced to make match boxes. Their quotas were set higher than those for any other squad, and these were constantly raised upward from 800 a day to

11 When combined with extremely low amperage, voltages of 10,000 to 50,000 are not usually fatal. However, such a shock could cause death in certain circumstances, such as if a person is of small stature or has a weak heart, or if a person is standing on a wet floor. If the trigger button is held down too long, severe burns can result. Certainly, these voltages are strong enough to knock a man down.

12 In an article about Chinese government agency engagement in commercial ventures, the New York Times (August 14, 1992) reported that the Ministry of State security "operates two stores in Beijing selling...six kinds of electric cattle prods. A saleswoman cheerfully demonstrated a cattle prod, sending sparks flying, but said a letter of introduction was necessary to buy one."

Asia Watch 888 September 1, 1992

1,700 per day, even as high as 2,000 per day. They labored from eight in the morning till eight in the evening. In case the quotas were not fulfilled because of political study, they were forced to work on until 9:30. Prisoners were not even allowed to drink water or smoke a cigarette. It was then stipulated that if a prisoner failed to fulfill his quota, he must make it up by working on Sundays. For the common criminals, work beyond the daily eight hours would be counted as overtime. No such privilege was accorded those in the training brigade. Even their time for newspaper reading or television news watching was strictly limited.

In September, after Liu Gang and the other political prisoners who underwent "correction" returned to the training brigade, they requested again and again that the work quotas be reduced, and that they be issued newspapers. All their requests were rejected. "These are regulations of the labor reform detachment. They are none of your business," so the prison authorities would reply. Liu Gang, Zhang Ming and Kong Xianfeng would often have their meals and talk together and play bridge in the evening after work. At first, they were closely watched. Then, the prison authorities banned more than two people from having their meals together. They even outlawed television news watching. Kong Xianfeng was very close to Liu Gang and freely expressed himself while working. He was transferred to the "correction" unit.

Having read the white paper on Human Rights in China, Liu Gang and the others found their treatment nowhere close to that described in official propaganda. They decided to go on hunger strike. On November 15, Liu Gang asked Kong Xianfeng to rejoin them from the "correction" unit, and announced to all the political prisoners: "I have decided to go on hunger strike and refuse to go to work today. I demand that: 1) they send me back to my home town to serve out my sentence; 2) stop all corporal punishment and mistreatment; 3) abolish the system by which common criminals supervise political prisoners; and 4) ban all retaliations. I also demand to have a dialogue with the leadership of the Liaoning Provincial Labor Reform Bureau, so that the policies described in the Human Rights White Paper can be implemented and the many human rights problems in the training brigade solved. In case my demands are accepted, I suggest that you join me in taking these actions." Kong Xianfeng, Zhang Ming, Tang Yuanjuan and others all supported Liu Gang. In all, 13 people took part in the hunger strike. They were: Liu Gang, Zhang Ming, Kong Xianfeng, Tang Yuanjuan, Leng Wanbao, An Fuxing, Li Wei, Liang Liwei, Tian Guangming, Chi Mengzhu, Si Wei, Li Jie and Li Dejun.

They declared in no uncertain terms that there is absolutely no oversight or protection of human rights here. Letters are often confiscated. All letters of accusation and appeal are returned to the labor reform detachment to be handled by the accused themselves. The controllers and the control section only demand that prisoners submit to control. They never oversee the prison authorities. Yang Guoping, the brigade commander, openly declared, "What human rights do the counterrevolutionaries enjoy? You will have it when I give it to you. If I don't, you must behave. You are prisoners. Your rights are only that you must submit to control and reform. It is sheer wishful thinking that you should try to regulate our power with human rights arguments. Some people talk about their personal dignity. You are no more than insignificant criminals. What dignity will you have if I don't let you save face!"

That evening, the prison authorities declared the hunger strike "an act of resisting reform and even a prison uprising. All 13 participants must be punished." Two were put under "strict regime," and nine others were confined in a small den. An Fuxing and Liang Liwei were ill and were allowed to remain in the training brigade to "reflect" on their "mistakes." But "reflection" was in name only. They were tortured so severely

Asia Watch 999 September 1, 1992

by several guards with electric batons that they passed out and were resuscitated only after emergency treatment. Leng Wanbao and Kong Xianfeng persisted in their hunger strike in the den. On the second day, they were force fed by pushing tubes down their esophagus. Leng Wanbao's left arm was dislocated as the guards pulled him hard, so his forearm and wrist became swollen, and he was in severe pain. The prison authorities did not bother to treat him.

On New Year's Day 1992, eight political prisoners confined in tiny solitary confinement cells again went on hunger strike, and demanded to see their loved ones. This was rejected by the prison authorities. That afternoon, Zhang Ming wrote a poem on the wall. Li Yang, the police commander, with a group of common criminals from the unit directly under the detachment in tow, on the pretext of searching for knives, forced Zhang Ming to take off all his clothing, beat and kicked him. Li declared fiercely "It is my job to beat you. It is for your reform. So you want to stage a hunger strike? Go right ahead. Labor reform detachments aren't afraid of deaths! When one dies, we'll bury one. When two die, we'll bury a pair! Our No.2 Labor Reform Detachment enjoys a national reputation as a model unit for reform. How can we allow you scum to disrupt the order of reform! I'll give it to whoever makes trouble. If policemen here don't have the guts, they wouldn't be earning their living here. If you have your dignity, I would be losing mine." After the terrible beating, they still would not allow Zhang Ming to put on his clothes, nor even to shield himself with his hands. They pushed him to the window to let him freeze. Li Yang and the common criminals watched him suffer with obvious satisfaction. They did not allow Zhang Ming to put on his clothes until after letting him freeze for more than half an hour.

By January 17, 1992, all political prisoners, with the exception of Liu Gang, had returned to the training brigade. But Liu Gang was still under "isolation surveillance" in the unit directly under the detachment. Kong Xianfeng, Zhang Ming and others repeatedly and strongly demanded that Liu be released. But their demands fell on deaf ears. On April 12, 1992. Liu Gang sneaked back to the training brigade at great risk. It was only then that the other political prisoners learned about Liu's plight. He was not allowed to see his loved ones. His letters were confiscated. He was subjected to all kinds of rough treatment at the hands of the common criminals. Li Chuanbo, a common criminal, repeatedly hit his head, causing many swellings. Several other common criminals, including Hu Fo and Zhang Yue, beat and kicked him, and forced him to sit on the cement floor to "reflect" on his "mistakes." Two guards and a group of common criminals from the unit directly under the detachment forcefully carried him away, despite strong protests from Liu Gang himself and the other political prisoners. Kong Xianfeng, Tang Yuanjuan and other political prisoners wrote a joint letter to the prison authorities, demanding personal safety guarantees and basic human rights for Liu Gang. The authorities simply ignored them.

Zhang Ming asked that he be sent to work in a workshop. But the prison authorities forced him to make match boxes instead. On April 4, 1992, Yang Guoping, the brigade commander, summoned Zhang to his office and attacked Zhang's chest, back and neck with a 50,000-volt electric baton, in an attempt to bring him to his knees. He threatened Zhang saying: "You are nothing. You make trouble, and I will let you have it. Do you know what sort of a place the labor reform detachment is? It is a place where a man plays it rough with other men. My name if Yang. I will play it rough with you today. So you are fearless. Why should I be fearful? Now let us see whose life is more worthy! What happened to the person who doomed ?13 All he got was a few years behind bars. The worst that can happen to me would be stripped of my

13 Zhang Zhixin was a young woman cadre who was brutally executed during the because she opposed Jiang

Asia Watch 101010 September 1, 1992

uniform and a 2-year sentence. If you are crazy, you just stick it out. So you think you will soon be released (Zhang had almost served out his 3-year sentence) eh? I will make every single day here insufferable for you." As Zhang Ming uttered not a word, the following day, a Sunday, Yang sent him to the "correction" unit to be tortured. When he was taking a bath that afternoon, people saw many scars and flesh wounds on his chest caused by electric batons.

Political prisoners are getting the most inhuman treatment at the No.2 Labor Reform Detachment in Lingyuan. As Liu Gang once remarked: "Where are our human rights? All we have are the rights of a pig or a dog!" Even in those terrible circumstances, they continue to cherish an ardent love for freedom and refuse to be intimidated. They are trying to preserve their personal dignity. They are convinced that they are not alone. The hearts of hundreds of millions are with them. Please pay close attention to their fate.

Qing (Madame Mao). Prior to her execution, Zhang's vocal chords were slit, without benefit of anesthesia, to prevent her from crying out "Long live Mao." After 's death, the Chinese government posthumously rehabilitated her and punished her accusers.

Asia Watch 111111 September 1, 1992

APPENDIX II

MOTOR CITY AT SOURCE OF LINGHE RIVER

by Guo Ying Guest Senior Editor141414 Researches in Crime and Reform (Fanzui Yu Gaizao), 1992

In 1984, the Journal of China's Legal System published a long article entitled "An Exceptional City." It is a story about the Lingyuan Labor Reform Sub-Bureau of Liaoning Province. The city is located at the source of the Great Linghe River in the mountainous region of western Liaoning Province. In the early fifties, this was a quiet little county town hardly known to the outside world. There were only a few pancake stalls, blacksmiths' shops and coffin stores. There were no multi-storied buildings or modern factories; only a few very small stores and handcraft shops. But today, hum, multi-storied buildings tower above the horizon, modern factories dot the skyline, all kinds of vehicles run on the wide, well-paved Linghe Boulevard, and thousands of labor-reform cadres and guards in their olive green uniforms do their job day in and day out, sending one group of labor reform prisoners after another on to their new lives.

The Lingyuan Labor Reform Sub-Bureau was started in 1958. In accordance with the directive on developing western Liaoning Province issued by the Liaoning Provincial Communist Party Committee, fifteen labor reform and re-education units as well as units employing ex-convicts moved from all parts of the province to Lingyuan. Part of the organization and personnel from seven other units also came. In all, more than 4,000 cadres and 45,000 prisoners and ex-prisoners undergoing reform or re-education through labor or employed in different units began the pioneering work of building a new city under extremely difficult conditions. During the initial period (1958-62), which coincided with China's 3-year period of extreme hardship, the challenge can well be imagined, especially as Lingyuan sits in a remote and inaccessible part of the country with backward industries. In the first place, housing was a big problem with 50,000 people suddenly cramming into a small county town and its environs. A few people were able to rent housing from the local people. The bulk of the newcomers had to stay in shanties and dugouts as makeshift dormitories. Lime and brick kilns, horse stables and barns were some of the better lodgings. The second problem was food and vegetable shortages. When a large crowd suddenly arrived in a small out-of-the-way county town, supplies of food grains and vegetables fell far short of the needs. To get three meals a day, the entire sub-bureau was mobilized to find food substitutes. They mixed corn flour with crushed corn stalks and bark of elm to make "leap-forward pancakes." Sometimes they had to go into the mountains to look for edible wild herbs. The third problem was control and supervision. Tens of thousands of prisoners undergoing reform and re-education through labor had to work in the fields in the daytime; and during the night, there were no secure prison cells or high walls to keep them in. So the cadres resorted to the primitive method of "drawing a circle on the ground to serve as a prison." They surrounded the prisoners with barbed wires. At the work sites, they used straw ropes and the planting of small flags to establish security lines. The fourth problem was transportation. The twenty units established in the initial period spread over an area of 30 li (10 kilometers) in diameter. There were few

14 The author is chief of the Second Department of the Sub-Bureau.

Asia Watch 121212 September 1, 1992

vehicles. Most of the construction materials and means of livelihood had to be transported by animal carts; sometimes they were carried on people's backs. The cadres did not even have bicycles. They often had to walk scores of li with an empty stomach and braving the severe cold. During critical periods, they had to work during the night by lamplight, sometimes for scores of days non-stop. After four years of hard work, the 4,000 cadres and guards and tens of thousands of labor reform or re-education prisoners in their charge succeeded in building an eye-catching embryo of a labor reform base on the poverty-stricken and barren earth of western Liaoning Province. They won the initial battle.

Today, after thirty years of continuous building, the Lingyuan Labor Reform Sub-Bureau is emerging as a fairly large-scale site for labor reform. It has six labor reform detachments spread over an area of 3.3 million square meters and extending more than 30 li. It has a total space of over 600,000 square meters, including 160,000 square meters of factory floor space. Its total fixed assets amount to 147,070,000 yuan (one yuan is worth roughly one-sixth of a dollar), including 1,823 pieces of equipment of various descriptions, 29 special-purpose production lines, 6.8 kilometers of rail lines, two steam engines, a power plant and an asbestos mine. There are ten county (regiment) level units with their own nurseries, kindergartens, primary and middle schools, a police academy, TV university, a motor vehicle research institute, department stores, bath houses, hospitals, liquified petroleum gas stations, cinemas, hostels, a TV station and closed-circuit TV systems connecting every household. Flower beds and poplars line the broad Linghe Boulevard. Flowers come into full blossom by the end of spring and the beginning of summer. Traffic flows in the streets day and night, and the place is alive with people talking and laughing. Some say this is a labor reform city; others call it a motor city.

The Lingyuan Labor Reform Sub-Bureau is known to the outside world as an enterprise bearing the name "Lingyuan Motor Vehicle Industrial Corporation of Liaoning Province." It has been producing "Linghe" buses since 1964. In 1967, it started producing refrigerator wagons for the military. By 1969, it had successfully trial-produced a 4-ton truck, the "Liaoning No.1," which, in a few years, became well known both within and outside of Liaoning Province. It was modified in 1977 and is now being marketed under a new label, the "Linghe." It enjoys an even better reputation than the "Liaoning No.1" and on many occasions has been awarded the title of "quality product" at the provincial level. It 1985, it was the sole winner of "first prize" among medium-sized trucks at a ministry-wide quality inspection event. The enterprise has grown into a multiple production factory, turning out many types of motor vehicles and components and parts. Among its major products are the LN 141 and LN 141A, 4 or 5-ton gasoline trucks; the LN 142 and LN 142A, 5-ton diesel trucks; 5-ton diesel trucks with long and short bodies; 5-ton snub-nosed trucks; and 8 or 10.5-ton tractor trailers. In addition, it also produces 115 HP gasoline engines, 120 HP diesel engines, motor vehicle oil pumps, caterpillar treads for tractors, forged extra-high-speed steel rims, motor vehicle and tractor meters, high pressure fuel injection pumps, aluminum pistons - in all some 40 varieties of parts and components. The corporation has been designated a production enterprise by the state in the national vehicle development plan. It is also a key enterprise in Liaoning Province's motor vehicle industrial plan.

As regards the reform of prisoners, the control and supervision facilities have gone from simple and crude to sophisticated. Education has become more penetrating. Tall prison building have replaced the tents and single-storied buildings. High walls, live wire entanglements, watch towers and electrically- operated iron gates have replaced the straw ropes and barbed wires. The various detachments have acquired prison vans, police cars, motorcycles, walkie talkies and alarm systems. Some detachments have installed monitoring devises. The procedures and measures of control and supervision have been

Asia Watch 131313 September 1, 1992

perfected all the way from detention to release. In the past thirty years or so, the sub-bureau successfully reformed historical counterrevolutionaries, Guomindang war criminals, secret agents sent by the United States and the Jiang clique, female prisoners, those sentenced to be re-educated through labor, and large numbers of common criminals of all categories. Many who have turned over a new leaf have become people useful to the four modernizations. In prison administration, the No.1 Detachment initiated the "system of one day in a prisoner's life." Their experience was popularized among all the other detachments. It was later modified to become "norms for a prisoner's life." The superior organs and other labor reform units later improved upon the system. The Ministry of Justice finally elaborated it into the "Standards of Conduct for Prisoners Undergoing Reform."

As regards the system of evaluation, rewards and penalties for the prisoners, the "100-point evaluation plan" was tried out. It was later improved and evolved into the "double 100-point evaluation plan for reform and production." It later became the system of "rewarding the prisoner by points, and reducing his or her sentence according to law." It encourages prisoners willingly to go through with their reform. The Lingyuan No.2 Detachment had a system of "two-level control and supervision." On that basis, it borrowed from the practices of foreign prisons, but in the light of its own conditions. It now practices something called "accumulating credits to improve your situation," with very good results. At a province- wide evaluation-competition among all labor reform units held in 1988, that (No.2) detachment won first place. All six of the Lingyuan detachments now use the same system.

As for education and reform, importance is attached to achieving solid results, and efforts are made to explore new ways of doing things. In 1986, the Lingyuan No.1 Detachment picked 120 young prisoners for the various brigades to form a new training brigade. They prepared their own teaching materials and used the visiting area and the club room as makeshift classrooms. Training enhanced the prisoners' skills and improved production. Their work was lauded by the central leadership. Comrade Peng Chong, who was then a member of the secretariat in charge of political and legal work, wrote an important comment (on a report), calling it "the right way to reform and train people." In February 1981, the Ministry of Public Security issued a formal document, calling on all labor reform units in the country to start their own cultural and technical education programs as soon as possible. The new approach has now evolved into establishing regular vocational technical schools to train new people throughout the country. All six Lingyuan detachments have set up Yu Xin (train new people) schools.

In 1982, in order to implement the spirit of the Eighth Labor Reform Conference and the party's labor reform policies for the new period, the Lingyuan Sub-Bureau discarded the conventional approach of conducting reform work in isolation, a method it had followed for scores of years, and began enlisting help from outsiders. The People's Daily published a story about three women teachers who became instructors from outside the prison. By 1985, the sub-bureau had engaged some 70 such instructors, and established liaison with scores of units both within and outside the province to help with education work. Help from outside the high walls encouraged the prisoners to repent and turn over a new leaf. All kinds of activities are flourishing throughout the sub-bureau. Ball games, chess games, calligraphy and painting exhibitions, intelligence and athletic competitions, philately activities, and literary groups, sub-bureau-wide athletic competitions for prisoners and Spring Festival yangge dances were organized. Some detachments even showed prison news programs on the closed-circuit TV system. Quite a few prisoners gave donations to the Great Wall Repair Campaign, the Asian Games and flood relief for the three devastated southern provinces. They showed that they, too, cared.

Asia Watch 141414 September 1, 1992

In the thirty years and more since its founding, the Lingyuan Sub-Bureau has made considerable contributions to the country. It produced tens of thousands of motor vehicles and successfully reformed tens of thousands of convicts. It was highly regarded by the leadership. Huan Huoqing, Chou Youwen, Chen Puru, Jin Shuren, successive leaders of Liaoning Province, and Yu Sang, Zou Yu, Jin Jian and Guo Dezhi, leaders of the Ministries of Public Security and Justice, all visited and inspected the sub-bureau and highly commended and encouraged it. Sasaki Sisco, the famous Japanese legal expert, visited the sub-bureau. After she returned to Japan, she wrote an article for Mainichi Shimbun, in which she wrote: "I visited the sub-bureau by car for two days. Yet I had not seen it all." She praised China's labor reform policy and the achievements of the Lingyuan Sub-Bureau highly in her article.

Asia Watch 151515 September 1, 1992

APPENDIX III

Data on "June 4" Political Prisoners Held at the Lingyuan No.2 Labor Reform Detachment (a partial list)

1. TaTaTang Tang YuanjuanYuanjuan, born on March 27, 1957 in Yang Zhou, Province. College educated. Formerly assistant engineer at the body plant of the No.1 Motor Works. He was resettled in the countryside in 1975. Upon his return, he found employment at the No.1 Motor Works and later graduated from its college for employees. In 1986, he began organizing "salon" meetings to discuss state affairs. In the summer of 1989, he organized employees of the No.1 Motor Works to stage protest demonstrations. He was arrested on June 10, 1989 and was later convicted of the crimes of "organizing and leading a counterrevolutionary group" and conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement," and sentenced to a fixed term of 20 years in prison with five years' subsequent deprivation of political rights by the Changchun Municipal Intermediate People's Court. His political ideas are for eradicating feudalism, instituting democracy, reforming the Communist Party and establishing a commonwealth.

2. Leng WanbaoWanbao, born in 1960 in Huaide County, Jilin Province. College educated. Formerly a worker at the tooling section of the engine plant of the Changchun No.1 Motor Works. He graduated from high school in 1979 and joined the No.1 Motor Works. In 1987, he took and passed the examination for the self-taught, and earned a diploma of college graduate equivalency. That same year, he joined the "salon" organized by Tang Yuanjuan. In the summer of 1989, he took part in organizing the employees of the No.1 Motor Works to stage protest demonstrations. He was arrested on June 10, 1989 and was later convicted of the crimes of engaging in "counterrevolutionary incitement" and "actively participating in the activities of a counterrevolutionary group," and was sentenced to a fixed term of eight years in prison, with three years' subsequent deprivation of political rights by the Changchun Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

3. Li WeiWei, born in 1976 in Ninghe County, Province. College educated. Formerly a worker at the engine plant of No.1 Motor Works. He graduated from high school in 1985 and joined the No.1 Motor Works. He passed the examination for self-taught, and earned his diploma of college graduate equivalency. In 1987, he joined Tang Yuanjuan's "salon." In the summer of 1989, he helped organize the employees of the No.1 Motor Works to stage demonstrations. He was arrested on June 10, 1989, and was later convicted of the crimes of "actively participating in the activities of a counterrevolutionary group" and "conducting counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement," and was sentenced to a fixed term of thirteen years in prison with three years' subsequent deprivation of political rights by the Changchun Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

4. Liang LiweiLiwei, born in 1961 in Gaixian County, Liaoning Province. Formerly assistant engineer at the institute for inspecting boiler pressure containers of the No.1 Motor Works. College educated, he graduated from the Northeastern Institute of Electric Power in 1983. In 1989, he became acquainted with Tang Yuanjuan, and helped organize the employees of the No.1 Motor Works to stage protest demonstrations. He also successfully urged thousands of workers of the Changchun Textile Mill to take part in the protests. He was arrested on June 10, 1989, and was later convicted of the crime of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement," and was

Asia Watch 161616 September 1, 1992

sentenced to a fixed term of three years in prison with one year's subsequent deprivation of political rights by the Changchun Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

5. Li ZhongminZhongmin, born in 1955 in Nongan County, Jilin Province. Formerly a teacher at the children's palace of the No.1 Motor Works. In 1987, he joined Tang Yuanjuan's "salon." In 1988, he went to work in . He was arrested on June 15, 1989, and was later convicted of the crime of "actively taking part in the activities of a counterrevolutionary group," and was sentenced to a fixed term of two years in prison with one year's subsequent deprivation of political rights by the Changchun Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

6. An FuxingFuxing, male, 40, college educated, formerly a cadre at the Jilin Chemical Industry Corporation. In 1989, he organized employees of the Jilin Chemical Industry Corp. to stage demonstrations. He was convicted of the crime of "organizing and leading a counterrevolutionary group" and was sentenced to a fixed term of five years in prison with two years' subsequent deprivation of political rights.

7. Li JingeJinge, male, 25, college educated, formerly an instructor at the Jilin Chemical Industry Corporation, He was arrested in December 1989, and was later convicted of the crime of "actively taking part in the activities of a counterrevolutionary group," and was sentenced to a fixed term of three years in prison, with two years' subsequent deprivation of political rights.

8. Chi ShouzhuShouzhu, male, 32, senior high school graduate. He lived in Chuanying of the city of Jilin. He took part in the demonstrations and made speeches. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later convicted of the crime of "conducting counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement," and sentenced to a fixed term of ten years in prison.

9. Li JieJie, male, 27, intermediate technical school graduate, formerly a cadre at the Bank of County. After the "June 4" crackdown, he printed and distributed leaflets, disclosing the truth of the tragedy. He was arrested in May 1990, and was later convicted of the crime of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement," and was sentenced to five years in prison with two years' subsequent deprivation of political rights.

10. Si WeiWei, male, 32, senior high school graduate, born in , Jilin Province. He distributed leaflets protesting the brutal "June 4" crackdown, and was arrested in June 1989. He was sentenced to four years in prison with one year's subsequent deprivation of political rights on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

11. Li DejunDejun, male, 30, college educated, formerly a teacher in County, Liaoning Province. He was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

12. Tian XiaomingXiaoming, male 28, college educated, born in Municipality. He was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

13. Xu BoquanBoquan, male, 28, senior high school graduate, a peasant from Liaoning Province. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of conducting

Asia Watch 171717 September 1, 1992

"counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

14. Jiao ZhijinZhijin, male, 58, senior high school graduate, born in Dalian Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to fifteen years in prison on charges of "organizing a counterrevolutionary group."

15. Zheng QuanliQuanli, male, 38, senior high school graduate, born in Dalian Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to twelve years in prison on charges of "organizing a counterrevolutionary group."

16. Wang GuishengGuisheng, male, 40, senior high school graduate, born in Dalian Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to three years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

17. Zhao JunluJunlu, male, 23, born in Dandong Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

18. Chao BinglinBinglin, male, 30, born in Shenyang. He was arrested in June 1990, and was later sentenced to two years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

19. Liu YunshenYunshen, male, 58, formerly a teacher in Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to four years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

20. Li ShusenShusen, male, 38, a worker in Jinxi Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989, and was later sentenced to four years in prison on charges of conducing "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

21. Liu FengmingFengming, male, 40, a peasant from Changtu County, Liaoning Province. He was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of "counterrevolutionary crimes" in 1976. Later he was rehabilitated. He was arrested again in July 1990, and sentenced to three years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

22. XinganXingan, male, 35, a worker in Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989 and sentenced to four years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

23. Wei ShouzhShouzhongongong, male, 23, born in Shongyang Municipality. He was arrested in June 1989 and sentenced to fifteen years in prison on charges of conducting "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement."

Asia Watch 181818 September 1, 1992

APPENDIX IV

Liu Gang's Ordeal in Prison

On June 20, 1989, Liu Gang was arrested in , Hebei Province. As he was third among the 21 student leaders on the "most wanted" list, he was soon sent to the .

Liu Gang once remarked, "Chinese intellectuals should no longer behave as if they are mollusca. They must grow their own bones, and present to the world a new image!" He did just that. He insisted on staging a hunger strike every month on the first day of the month. The prison authorities could do nothing about it. All the guards agreed that he was the toughest political prisoner to handle. He often refused to answer questions. Sometimes, he simply remained silent. He never signed any of the records of interrogation. If he wrote anything at all, it would be, "Groundless!" or "a real man is not afraid to die. So why waste your breath!"

At first, the prison authorities put him in the same cell with the other political prisoners. But they soon found out they had miscalculated. Liu Gang often took the lead in organizing hunger strikes, or in singing the Internationale. All the other political prisoners became tough ones to handle under his influence. Many refused to answer questions or sign the interrogation records. They also refused to write statements of repentance. Together with Liu, they would refuse to take food or otherwise protest their treatment. So Liu Gang was separated from the other political prisoners, and put in solitary confinement for more than a year. In order to punish him, the prison authorities took away his books and other personal belongings, only returning them to him long afterward. He paid dearly for what he did. But he said calmly, "You learn that certain things are not really difficult to do after you have done them."

In early February 1991, Liu Gang was sentenced by a Beijing Municipal court to a fixed term of six years in prison on charges of engaging in "counterrevolutionary conspiracy to subvert the government." In early April, he was sent under guard to Jilin, where he was born. On April 22, he and ten other political prisoners, including Zhang Ming, Tang Yuanjuan and An Fuxing, were sent under guard to the Lingyuan No.2 Labor Reform Detachment in Liaoning Province (known to the outside world as the "Lingyuan Motor Vehicle General Assembly Plant") to serve their terms. They were assigned to the No.1 Squad of the Training Brigade, which holds the political prisoners sentenced for their part in the "June 4" pro-democracy movement. (It is now the No.1 Squad of the Ninth Brigade.)

The prison authorities forced them to study and commit to memory the "standards of conduct for criminals undergoing reform." Liu Gang told his fellow prisoners, "We will observe the discipline of the labor reform detachment. But we will not accept compulsory indoctrination and reform. We are innocent. Why should we accept `criminal consciousness?'" On May 29, the prison authorities gave those of the Training Brigade a third test on the "standards of conduct for criminals undergoing reform." The eleven newly-arrived political prisoners refused to take the test. The police guards who were alerted beforehand pounced on them and beat them up. A guard found on Liu Gang a cardiograph test report (Liu Gang got heart disease in prison) and fiercely told him, "Don't think you can avoid punishment by pretending to be sick." So they put 9-kilogram leg irons on Liu and dragged him away. All the others were also badly beaten.

Asia Watch 191919 September 1, 1992

That night, and for several days in a row, the police guards and some common criminals in their trust tortured the political prisoners again and again. Li Yang, the police commander (currently in charge of prison administration) threatened Liu Gang, "So you think I dare not settle with you because of your notoriety? Let me tell you something. Our No.2 Detachment specializes in handling the worst elements who resist reform. These elements from all over Liaoning Province are assembled here. There are many who are tougher than you. But what happened to them? Don't think that you are different. Whoever comes here has to be reformed. If you resist reform, we know how to handle you. It is our job to handle you." The brutal guard even assaulted Liu's private parts with a high-voltage electric baton. But Liu Gang kept glaring at him.

So Liu Gang was put under "strict regime" (where prisoners are tortured and controlled by common criminals trusted by the prison authorities). He was forced to sit still on a long bench measuring fifty centimeters wide for long stretches to "reflect" on his mistakes. The common criminals forced him to sit on that bench for twelve hours a day between 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. with only breaks for lunch and supper, an hour in all. His legs became swollen with pain, and his muscles began to shrivel.

But Liu Gang refused to give in. On June 8, the head of the Lingyuan Public Security Sub-Bureau came to the Training Brigade and called a meeting. Liu Gang, dragging his 9-kilogram leg irons, attended the meeting. Someone asked him, "Who brought you up?" Liu answered, "My parents." "You went to college after the Third Plenum. Don't you think what you've done has let the party and government down?" Liu replied firmly, "I have a clear conscience. I am not at all sorry. What I've done, I know best."

In mid-June, Liu Gang was transferred to the No.2 Squad of the Training Brigade for "correction" and to take part in making match boxes. The prison authorities said, "Making match boxes hardly counts as labor." But in fact, they set the highest quotas for the political prisoners and kept increasing these quotas from 800 per day eventually to 2,200 per day. The political prisoners had to work from eight in the morning to eight in the evening, sometimes as late as 9:30 p.m. when there was a political study session. If they failed to fulfill their quotas, they had to make them up by working on Sundays. As a result of the long hours, their health seriously deteriorated. By September, Liu Gang and the others were transferred back to the Training Brigade. They were closely watched. Soon, the authorities explicitly banned taking meals together, or playing chess, etc. after work, and even talking together. The political prisoners were also barred from watching TV or reading newspapers. Repeated requests fell on deaf ears. Liu Gang told his fellow prisoners, "We lost our freedom when sentenced to prison. We must not lock ourselves up. We will talk and do whatever we wish to do. We have our rights. They are going too far."

With the publication of the white paper on Human Rights in China, the prison authorities organized study sessions and demanded that every prisoner write a paper on what he (she) thought of it. At a study session, Liu Gang embarrassed the guards, saying, "How can you talk about human rights for us? At best we only enjoy a pig's rights or a dog's rights. Why are you treating an insignificant prisoner so politely now? [Are you] talking about human rights or pig rights."

In the early morning of November 15, Liu Gang called on Kong Xianfeng to come over from the neighboring "corrections" squad. All thirteen political prisoners from Liaoning and Jilin Provinces started a hunger strike and refused to go to work. They put forward four demands: 1) be sent back to their hometowns to serve out their terms; 2) ban all corporal punishment and torture; 3) end the system of

Asia Watch 20 September 1, 1992

supervision by common criminals; 4) ban all retaliation and arrange a dialogue with the Labor Reform Bureau leadership. At about 7 o'clock, two guards dragged Liu Gang downstairs. But Liu Gang freed himself and firmly refused to return to the Training Brigade. By morning, Yang Guoping, the brigade commander (later promoted to section chief in the prison administration) asked the political prisoners who would talk to him. No one answered. Then Liu Gang stood up and walked toward Yang. He said to Yang, "We are political activists. You only have administrative powers. You have no right to interfere with us." Ignoring Liu, Yang threatened the political prisoners, "It is my job to control you. Whatever you may say, you are criminals and I am a cadre in charge of control and supervision. You should know that it is legal for a husband to rape his wife. Don't think that you are untouchable, and don't entertain the illusion that the government will rehabilitate you. I advise you to be realistic. You must submit to our control as long as you are here in the labor reform detachment!" Staring at him, Liu Gang said, "I never thought we would need someone to rehabilitate us. History is fair. Your former president, Liu Shaoqi, was once branded a renegade, traitor and scab. Hasn't he been rehabilitated? I am innocent. But we must fight for our own freedom, rights and dignity, and appeal for sympathy and support. We believe only in saving ourselves!" Yang Guoping slipped away crestfallen amidst the prisoners' hisses.

In the afternoon, Hamlet was shown on TV. Liu Gang encouraged his friends, "To be or not to be, we need not consider. Our slogan must be `We will gladly give our lives for freedom.' We must hold out until the end, and leave ourselves with a glorious memory."

That evening, a large number of guards entered the cell and declared the thirteen political prisoners' demand for a dialogue an act of "resisting reform and a prison riot" which must be punished. Liu Gang and another political prisoner from Jilin Province were put under "strict regime." Kong Xianfeng, Zhang Ming and seven others were confined in a small tiny solitary confinement cell (measuring one meter by two meters, dark and damp). Liang Liwei and An Fuxing were allowed to remain in the brigade for "correction" because of illness.

In mid-January 1992, twelve of the participants in the November 15 hunger strike were relieved from their "reflections." Part of their demands were met. But Liu Gang remained in isolation in the unit directly under the labor reform detachment and under the supervision of common criminals. The other political prisoners requested on many occasions that Liu Gang be allowed to return to the Training Brigade, but to no avail.

One day in March, Tang Yuanjuan, Zhang Ming and Kong Xianfeng met Liu Gang in the clinic and only then did they learn something about Liu's plight. The authorities barred him from seeing his loved ones and confiscated all his letters. The common criminals of the unit directly under the labor reform detachment amused themselves by torturing Liu Gang. A common criminal by the name of Li Chuanbo hit Liu's head so many times that Liu had swellings on his head. But Liu Gang kept his spirits up in these extremely harsh circumstances. He would go on hunger strike whenever a leader from a democratic country came to visit. He wrote many letters to Secretary General Boutros-Ghali of the United Nations, President Bush of the United States, and other international leaders and human rights activists, informing them of his ordeal and appealing to the international community to pay greater attention to human rights conditions in China. The prison authorities effectively blocked all information. His protests have not been heard in the outside world.

Asia Watch 212121 September 1, 1992

From then on, prisoners of the Training Brigade were barred from visiting the clinic. Instead, the authorities would send doctors to see them. In the early morning of April 11, Liu Gang succeeded in slipping back to the Training Brigade and announced that he would refuse to be sent back to the unit directly under the labor reform detachment because Li Chuanbo, Zhang Yue, Hu Wei and other common criminals there would frequently beat him, kick him and force him to sit on the cement floor to "reflect." There was no end to the tortures and humiliation. The political prisoners were outraged. They demanded that Liu Gang be allowed to stay. But soon two police guards and a horde of common criminals from the unit directly under the labor reform detachment forcibly dragged him away.

Kong Xianfeng, Tang Yuanjuan and a dozen other political prisoners wrote a joint letter demanding that this matter be settled properly by the authorities and Liu Gang's basic human rights be respected and his health be taken care of. But the prison authorities turned a deaf ear. Instead, they increased the severity of Liu's treatment and even refused to let him out for exercise. They are deeply prejudiced against Liu Gang and abuse him again and again. One of the cadres in charge of control and supervision even told him, "Who do you think you are? Don't think that I dare not beat you. There are plenty of ways to deal with you!" Liu Gang is in grave danger, as he is surrounded by brutal and vengeful guards and criminals.

Those of you who love freedom and live in the free world, please pay close attention to his plight. Appeal and cry out on his behalf, so that he may receive humane and civilized treatment.

Asia Watch 222222 September 1, 1992

APPENDIX V

Exports of prisonprison----mademade goods from Lingyuan and other laborlabor----reformreform units in Liaoning Province

A recent, year-long investigation by Asia Watch into the activities of the giant penal-industrial complex at Lingyuan County has established beyond doubt that the authorities there are systematically engaged in exporting prison-made goods to many parts of the world, including to the United States. All the evidence supporting this conclusion comes from officially published Chinese books and journals, some of which are openly available while others are of the "restricted-circulation" variety.15

Moreover, on July 3, 1992 - namely, just as the final touches were being put on the Sino-U.S. Memorandum of Understanding banning prison-made exports - the general manager and legal representative of one of the main Lingyuan prison factories, Liu Dehao, explicitly stated in a letter:

Our factory welcomes foreign businessmen to come and invest in the factory on a joint-venture basis, in order to further develop [China's] mighty car-making industry.16

First indications of foreign trading involvement in the Lingyuan penal complex included the following passage, which appeared in a manual for prison officials published in 1987 by China's Law Publishing Press:

The Liaoning Lingyuan Vehicle Company reached an agreement with the Japanese Isuzu company, whereby the latter supplied 500 sets of their vehicle parts to be assembled by the [Lingyuan] factory; by assembling the Japanese vehicles, the latter achieved its aim of importing advanced technology and raising the technical level of the enterprise.17

Representatives of both the Isuzu and Mitsubishi corporations had visited the Lingyuan prison factories by 1985,18 and the relationship with Japan's auto industry apparently blossomed thereafter. According to the July 1992 letter from the Lingyuan factory manager: "[Our plant] has imported from Japan advanced-level welding assembly lines for vehicle cabins; full vehicle testing platforms; large-scale

15 See also, "Forced Labor in China: Pro-Democracy Prisoners in Lingyuan," Asia Watch, December 5, 1991.

16 "Wo chang huanying waishang lai touzishi hezi banchang...." The letter, a copy of which was recently obtained by Asia Watch, is written on headed notepaper of the Linghe Automobile Factory. It carries both the factory's official seal and that of Liu Dehao himself.

17 Laodong gaizao zuifan de lilun yu shijian ("The Theory and Practice of Reforming Criminals Through Labor), Law Publishing Press (December 1987), p. 237. See also: "Isuzu allegedly contracted with Chinese prison," Mainichi Shimbun, December 8, 1991; and "Asia Watch: Isuzu contracted to Chinese prison," Asahi Evening News, December 7, 1991.

18 Photographs of these visits appeared in the Yei sales catalogue discussed in this appendix.

Asia Watch 23 September 1, 1992

profile-modelling milling machines; and machine presses. Our anticipated annual output capacity is 10,000 vehicles, and in the current year we have produced 6,500 vehicles."

In November 1991, further evidence of exports from the Lingyuan penal colony was brought to light by a journalist from the South China Morning Post, who visited the Province Huacheng Enterprise Company and asked a member of the staff about the source of the goods it sold. According to the newspaper account:19

Chan Ho, a shop assistant and sales representative confirmed...the engines on display were made in labor camps. "The diesel lorry engines are from Liaoning labor camp," he said. "Our diesel lorry engines Model 4102 and 6102 are very famous in Third World countries, especially in Africa. They are modelled on Japanese Isuzu engines and sell for 112,000 yuan and 16,500 yuan respectively."

The engines were assembled in Ning Yuen Diesel Engine Factory in Liaoning...."The prisoners only handle part of the assembly process. We still need to use skilled labor for some of the work," he said.

The written (obtained from a sales slip) make clear that "Ning Yuen" is the pronunciation of the labor camp in question; the Mandarin pronunciation is "Lingyuan."

Additional research by Asia Watch then brought to light a series of brief articles on the Lingyuan complex which appeared in the Liaoning Legal Daily between 1984 and 1986. One of these specified what appeared to be the province-wide trading outlet for the Liaoning prison enterprise network:

Liaoning Province recently took part in a trade fair [held at the Fushan International Exhibition Center in City, Province] at which all kinds of goods were put on display by the Liaoning Provincial Labor Reform Bureau's Yining Enterprises Incorporation (Yining Qiye Zong Gongsi).

Subsidiaries of the Yining Enterprises Incorporation that were represented at the fair included the Linghe Automobile Industry Company, the Machine Tool Works, the Xinsheng [New Life] Switching Works, the Jinzhou Electric Furnace and Transformers Factory, the Shenyang New Life Enterprise Company, the New Life Farm and the Dalian Vitrified Quartz and Diabase Cast Stone Product Factory.

The exhibits aroused intense interest from those present, including colleagues from within China, compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao and people from all other walks of life.20

All the factories and companies listed in the article as being "subsidiaries" of the Yining Enterprises Incorporation (YEI) are in fact prison or labor-reform units administered directly by the Liaoning Provincial

19 "Prison camp engines and tea 'popular as exports'," South China Morning Post, November 30, 1991.

20 "An exhibition of Liaoning labor-reform products held in Xiamen receives high marks," Liaoning Fazhi Bao, November 22, 1986.

Asia Watch 242424 September 1, 1992

Labor Reform Bureau. (The name "New Life" is almost invariably reserved by the authorities to denote labor-reform enterprises.)

Asia Watch recently obtained a 170-page, English-Chinese bilingual sales catalogue, published in 1985, which supplies exhaustive details of the product range of no less than 27 different labor-reform enterprises in Liaoning Province, all of which are represented for both domestic and international sales purposes by YEI.21 Eight of the 27 enterprises form part of the Lingyuan penal-industrial complex, and the section on Lingyuan fills the entire first quarter of the catalogue. The explanatory text is accompanied by hundreds of photographs depicting both the products and the prison factories themselves.

All of the products are clearly offered for international sale. A number of the products are specifically identified, moreover, as being marketed in the United States.

The YEI stable of "companies"companies""""

According to the sales catalogue,

Yining Enterprises Incorporation Liaoning Province is located in Shenyang [City]. It encompasses many industrial sectors, such as machinery, chemistry, light industry, building materials, farming, etc. It has more than 30 factories and farms scattered all over Liaoning Province, producing more than 60 kinds of products covering over 1,000 specifications and models.

The company has a history of over 30 years, with a strong manufacture and business foundation. Its products are marketed throughout China and exported to many countries and regions in Asia, Africa, America, Europe and . It's [sic] total annual sales volume comes up to Rmb 500 millions [approximately US $100 million]...

We warmly welcome friends at home and abroad to cooperate with us in various ways so as to promote technical and economic development and expand trade.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the figure of "30 factories and farms" represented by YEI matches exactly the total number of labor-reform units known to be maintained by the authorities in Liaoning Province.22 The following highlights on the production and sales activities of the various prison and labor-reform enterprises in Liaoning are taken from the YEI catalogue.

21 Yining Enterprises Incorporation Liaoning Province, published by Liaoning Advertising General Agency and printed by Economic Information and Agency (Jingji Daobao She), Hong Kong. (The latter entity appears to be an offshoot of Da Gong Bao, the main PRC- controlled daily newspaper published in Hong Kong. They share the same address.) Location of YEI is given in the catalogue as: 2, Bei Ling Street, Section 2, , Shenyang, China.

22 "Liaoning Sheng danwei gaige xin mao" ("The new face of reform in Liaoning Province's labor-reform units"), in Fanzui Yu Gaizao Yanjiu (Researches in Crime and Reform), No.4, 1988, p.50. The article states that there are "30 labor-reform units directly administered by the Liaoning provincial authorities."

Asia Watch 25 September 1, 1992

1) Linghe Automobile Industry Company (LAIC)23

The constituent prison factories of the Lingyuan complex are listed as follows: Ling He Auto Engine Plant; Ling He Auto Assembly Plant; Ling He Auto Chassis Plant; Ling He Auto Casting Plant; Ling He Auto Meter Factory; and Ling He Auto Injection Pump Plant. In addition, the Lingyuan prison authorities operate an LAIC Glassware Factory, an LAIC Plastic Goods Factory, and an enterprise known as the Chao Yang Xinsheng [New Life] Asbestos Mine. (This latter is probably the Chao Yang City Re-education through Labor Center.24) According to the 1990 Liaoning Statistical Yearbook, the LAIC is the third largest automobile factory in the entire province.25

As mentioned, all of the products are available for overseas export.26 Regarding the Auto Engine Plant, for example, the YEI catalogue comments,

The plant was built in 1950s. A variety of products have received good comments from customers

23 The - Ling He Qiche Gongye Gongsi - is variously rendered in English in the present report as either "Lingyuan [or Ling He] Motor Vehicle Industrial Corporation" or "Ling He Automobile Industry Company." The latter version is used throughout the YEI sales catalogue and is probably the more accurate of the two.

24 See Researches in Crime and Reform, August 1990, p.51.

25 Liaoning Jingji Tongji Nianjin, 1990, p.120.

26 The LAIC product range: Ling He Trucks * Models LN141, LN141A, LN142 and LN142A trucks. * Models LN142 and LN143 five ton diesel trucks. * Model LN143 truck with convertible cabin. * Model LN940 10.5 ton trailer truck Ling He Engines * Model 6101Q-3 gasoline engine (115 horsepower [hp]). * Model 6102BQ diesel engine (125 hp). * Model 6102DQ diesel engine Ling He Auto Meters * Models 801, 802, 804, 806, 881 and 885 (used for Jie Fang and Ling He brand trucks, and for sedan and light-duty vehicles. Malleable Cast Iron Wheel Rims * Models 8.00V-20, 7.33V-20, 6.00T-20, 5.00S-20, 4.33R-20, 5.50F-16, 4.00E-16, 3.00D-16 (used in automobile, trailer, agricultural vehicle and engineering machinery.) Diesel Pumps * Models 6A85, 6A85A, 6A85S injection pumps (used for Huang He, Jiang Huai, Long Jiang, Jie Fang, Dong Feng and Ling He automobiles.) Also: CA-15 pistons, piston rings and braking chamber assemblies. Chassis components * Gear box, rear axle, propeller shaft assemblies and fittings for Jie Fang series trucks. (NB: An accompanying photograph shows "workers" with shaven heads toiling on the gearbox assembly line.) Glassware products * White and dark brown reagent bottles; anti-knock mining-lamp tubes. Plastic Goods * Polyvinyl chloride film; blow-plastic films. * Color-printed plastic bags; rain coats and book covers. * Plastic automobile fittings Asbestos Goods * Both raw and treated asbestos products

Asia Watch 26 September 1, 1992

both at home and abroad.27

2) Wafangdian Machine Tool Works

This factory, located about 20 kilometers from Lingyuan, is actually the Wafangdian Labor Reform Detachment (Wafangdian Laogai Zhidui).28 The YEI catalogue describes it as follows:

The Wafangdian Machine Tool Works was built in 1952 and has a long history in producing machine tools....It has a floor space of more than 100,000 m2 on a site of 250,000 m2. Its workshops are spacious, attractive and reasonably arranged.

We have about 4000 staffs and workers...[and] 13 lines and 36 types of products including Vertical Boring and Turning Mills, Horizontal Boring Machines, Lathes, Crank Presses and Surface Plates...

Our products are well-received at home and abroad, our Surface Plates were sold [in] over 48 countries and regions all over the world....They have won a good reputation and were well appraised by users at home and abroad. We are eager to keep intimate contact with all factories over the world, to develop our friendship and to make contributions for the welfare of mankind.

Moreover, the factory's range of straight edge tools are: "Renowned at home and abroad for their famous brand and fine quality." Another official source, a book entitled State Prize Winning Products of China, 1983, specifies that the Wafangdian Wazi-series Surface Plate for Testing "enjoys a brisk market at home as well as in 48 countries and regions in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, such as Switzerland, Holland and Romania."

3) Fushun Machine Tool Works

This prison factory - whose internal name is either Fushun Prison or the Fushun Labor Reform Detachment - produces a wide range of slotting machines (chachuang), including models B5032, B5020, B505A, B50100, B5020D, BA5063, B5910 and QA21F-9. It also produces a shaping machine, model BC6063. According to the English text of the YEI sales catalogue:

Fushun Machine Tool Plant is the largest specialized manufacturer in China producing vertical planing machines.

This plant has a productive history of more than twenty years. It has a strong technical force....The products of this plant have been well sold all over China and exported to more than 40 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and so on.

27 This is the English text. The Chinese text is even more specific: "The factory was built in the 1950s. All types of its products have received extremely high praise from users and customers in both the domestic and international markets."

28 See Researches in Crime and Reform, December 1990, p.44.

Asia Watch 272727 September 1, 1992

The machines produced by our plant enjoy high prestige in domestic and overseas markets...

4) Jinzhou Xinsheng [New Life] Switch Works

This factory (probable real name: Jinzhou Labor Reform Detachment) is described as being "one of [China's] main manufacturers producing high and low voltage switches and electrical equipment." It has supplied such equipment to both the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and also the Beijing International Airport. Moreover,

We cordially welcome all friends at home and abroad to [do] business and exchange techniques with us by letters and telegraph or to come in person.

5) Jinzhou Electric Furnace and Transformers FactorFactoryy

Like the previous one, this prison enterprise is (according to the catalogue), "situated in the beautiful seaside city Jinzhou, in the Corridor in . It covers an area of 55,000 m2 with a workshop of 35,000 m2. It has 3,000 workers..." The factory manufactures the national award-winning S7 and SL7 series of low-loss power transformers, together with the ZH, ZG and GW series melting and vacuum furnaces. States the catalogue (again in English):

Now the products are sold at home and abroad...With a strong technical force, we can design precision smelting workshop, fine casting workshop, sintering workshop, heating treatment workshop and any other special furnaces, according to customers' requirements. Orders are welcome.

6) Xinsheng [New Life] Machinery Factory

Since the early 1970s, this prison enterprise has specialized in producing rubber-manufacturing machines of various kinds, including the GBM, GBG, GRG, GRM, GHM, GHG, GLG and GCX series of spiral winders, bobbin winders, braiders and horizontal vulcanizers. According to the YEI catalogue:

The Ministry of Chemical Industry has designated the Panjin Xinsheng Machinery Factory to specialize in the production of rubber....We have many times accomplished the state assigned tasks in aiding foreign countries...."Everything for the customer" is the axiom of our factory.

7) Haicheng Farm Machinery Accessories Factory

This "factory" is better known, internally, as the Liaoning Province Haicheng Juvenile Offenders Center. It produces mainly vehicle brake assemblies. One of the accompanying photographs in the YEI catalogue (bearing the caption "Staff and Workers") shows a classroom of male teenagers being lectured by a stern-looking official dressed in dark green trousers with a thin red stripe down the side - the instantly recognizable uniform of the People's Armed Police. On the accompanying photograph of "the indoor scene of a factory," moreover, an electrified barbed-wire fence is clearly visible atop the factory's perimeter wall.

8) Shenyang Xinsheng [New LiLife]fe] Chemical Works

Asia Watch 28 September 1, 1992

This prison factory was established in 1952, and specializes in producing chemical accelerators for use in the rubber vulcanization process. (Series M, D, DM, CZ, TMTD, TETD, NOBS and Na-22.) In 1983 and 1990, the factory's CZ Northeast Vulcanization Accelerating Agent won a Gold Medal award from the Ministry of Justice.29 According to the official comment on the 1983 award, "With its five technical standards higher than those set by the Ministry [of Chemical Industry], the product has won a high regard among users in both the home and overseas markets." And according to the YEI catalogue,

Its products are famous for their stable quality and reliable properties, so the plant has a ready market in China and Asia. Users will be satisfied with the quality products and good service provided by the plant.

9) Shenyang XXinshenginsheng Reclaimed Rubber Factory

Built soon after the founding of the People's Republic, this prison enterprise is "the largest reclaimed Rubber factory in China." Furthermore,

[The factory's] "Shenxin" brand reclaimed rubber enjoys high reputation among customers and has a ready sale at home and abroad over thirty years.

Customers are welcomed to visit our factory, to exchange experiences and hold trade talks.

10) Shenyang Xinsheng [New Life] Rubber Plant

The real name of this factory, which was built in 1949 and now produces more than 8,000,000 pairs of rubber boots and shoes every year, is almost certainly the Liaoning Province No.2 Labor Reform Detachment.30 According to the YEI sales catalogue,

The structure of our products is rational and the quality is excellent. Now various rubber boots and shoes sell very well throughout China and in more than ten countries in Latin America, USA, Europe and Asia. Our products are warmly welcome by users.

Since the products are declaredly marketed in the United States, it may be worth noting that they are variously listed in the catalogue as: "boots for children," "high-heeled colour boots for women," "high-tube boots and half-tube boots," "cloth on the surface boots" and "export boots."

11) Shenyang Xinsheng [New Life] Grease Products FaFactoryctory

This enterprise is definitely best suited for those foreign buyers searching for something a little

29 See State Prize Winning Products of China, 1990. For more information on this factory's activities, see Theory and Practice of Reform through Labor (op cit), p.270.

30 See Laogai Laojiao Lilun Yanjiu ("Theoretical Studies in Labor Reform and Labor Re-education"), June 1989, p.29.

Asia Watch 29 September 1, 1992

different within the Chinese prison-goods-for-export market. For example,

"Fei Tian toilet soap are well known products since long. No matter what decoration, smell, style, colour, all will oriental features, it is well-received by consumers and enjoys a high reputation as a good companion in toilet.

Other grease products available include Gold Deer Soap, Children Dermal Protection Soap, Fragrant Grass Soap, Lustrous and Transparent Brightening Soap and Edible Glycerine Monostearate (for use in pastry.) States the catalogue: "Enduser's need is of supreme importance and the quality always comes first."

12) Shenyang Xinsheng [New Life] Aromatics Factory

A chemical plant manufacturing various types of cosmetics, perfumes, colognes and hair tonics. (NB: How is one to reconcile the existence of such an enterprise with the Chinese authorities' oft-repeated claim that the bulk of all prison-made goods are consumed by the prisoners themselves, with only a small percentage being sold on the domestic market and none whatever sold abroad?

13) Huazi Xinsheng [New Life] Cement Factory

This prison enterprise was established more than 30 years ago, and produces "#425 portland blast furnace slag cement, pre-stressing ring-structured steel reinforced concrete poles, machine made cement tiles, lime, etc. The annual output of cement if this plant is 170,000 tons." The plant operates a limestone mine which has reserves of more than 30 million tons. A second such prison factory, the No.3 Dalian Cement FactoryFactory, is described in the catalogue in similar terms.

14) Dalian Vitrified Quartz and Diabase Cast Stone Product Factory

Located on the southern tip of the , this prison factory produces all kinds of cast stone plates, pipes and casings for use in the metallurgical, chemical, mining and electric power industries. It also manufactures fused quartz, semiconductor and precision optical items for use in the military, spaceflight and nuclear industries. But alarmingly enough (according to the YEI catalogue),

Since our city has opened to the outside world, businessmen from U.S.A., Japan and Hongkong etc. have come one after another to hold business talks, set up joint ventures and cooperate with us.

15) Fushun Xinsheng [New Life] Ceramics Plant

A prison factory producing around 100 million red bricks per year, mainly for decorative applications in the construction industry. "The colorful wall and floor tiles are gorgeous in colour and unique in style, especially the glazed wall tiles with gold grit, glittering and magnificent in the sunshine, original with their stereoscopic beauty. They are ideal ornament nowadays. Adds the sales catalogue (again in English):

Orders for our products are welcome. Goods shipment can be consigned and quality is guaranteed. Orders by person or by correspondence will be accepted. We also accept orders for special sizes or

Asia Watch 30 September 1, 1992

with drawings or samples.

16) Yingkou Xinsheng [New Life] Farm

The internal name of this labor-reform camp is almost certainly the Yingkou Labor Reform Battalion. It is a large forced-labor camp located close by the sea at the Bay of Liaodong, extending over 75,000 mu of land and producing 22.5 million kilograms of rice per year. Since 1961, it has also been designated as a production base of meat for export. According to the YEI catalogue, however,

The main product is Beijing ducks, whose export volume is 400 tons per year. It is one of the earliest base producing quality Beijing ducks for export.

The products are on sale in Japan, East Europe, the Soviet Union, Arab countries, Hong Kong and other regions.

From 1985, we began to expand our duck farm jointly with Liaoning Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corporation. The main product is world-famous "Yingtao Gu" duck. The output is 1,000 tons per year. Our farm has excellent processing and refrigeration equipment.

An accompanying photograph shows the external facade of the famous Quan Ju De Restaurant in Beijing - a place to which countless foreign tourists are taken each year to ritually consume their Beijing duck meals. The photo caption reads: "Quan Jude Restaurant likes our ducks!" Another photograph shows a pile of pre-packaged ducks, with the English words "Frozen " and "China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corporation, PRC" prominently displayed on the packaging.

Another large labor-reform farm listed in the catalogue is the Panjin Xinsheng [New Life] FarmFarm. Its annual output includes 10 million kilograms of rice, 10,000 tons of reed products, 100,000 kilograms of fruit and 150,000 kilograms of eggs.

17) Ma San Jia Xinsheng [New Life] Farm

A medium-sized agricultural enterprise covering 23,800 mu, this forced-labor unit also runs a mechanized pig farm (output: 30,000 head per year), a chicken farm, a machine factory and a clothing factory. The entire farm is known, internally, as the Liaoning Province Ma San Jia Re-education Through Labor Camp.31 Its main products for export appear to be: the Model MD-78 Crush Beater (used to beat crush on the surface of the electrolyte in the manufacture of electrolyzed aluminum); and the Model MDL-83 multipurpose infrared welding rod drier. Other such products include Model LG-5 cooling filtrators, Model FJ-7 oil pumps, Model JC-200 electrode iron pattern plates for forging machines.

18) Kangping Xinsheng [New Life] Farm

Also known as the Kangping Labor Reform Detachment, this is a large forced-labor camp situated in

31 See Liaoning Economic Statistics Yearbook, 1988, p.392.

Asia Watch 313131 September 1, 1992

the far northern part of Liaoning Province, near the border with . According to the YEI catalogue,

In recent years, our business lines include machining, wine distilling, bed-cloth making, cold-storage processing of beef for export, the raising of cattle, sheep and fowls.32

------

Finally, the YEI sales catalogue concludes with an advertisement for the corporation's Sanatorium for Staff and WorkersWorkers, which is shown in a photograph as nestling picturesquely beneath a steep slope called Awaiting Son Hill. According to the catalogue,

The Xiongyue Sanatorium, situated at the Hot Spring district of Xiongyue city, provides ideal convalescence facilities for staff and workers.

This may well be the only instance in the entire publication in which the words "staff and workers" are used accurately - that is, to denote the public security, labor-reform officials and camp guards who man the vast Liaoning Provincial penal-industrial-agricultural complex. For all other occurrences of the term, read "prison inmates." One thing is certain, namely, that Liu Gang, Tang Yuanjuan, Li Wei, Leng Wanbao and all the other political prisoners currently suffering gross physical and psychological abuse in the depths of the Liaoning gulag will never be invited to enjoy the recreational facilities on offer at the Xiongyue Sanatorium. Their role in the system, rather, is merely to perform slave labor for purposes of enriching the local government.

32 "Xingbuluo AA Meat Chicken: Rapid growth, fresh and tender meat, well-developed chest muscles and high dressing percentage," reads the caption to an accompanying photograph.

Asia Watch 32 September 1, 1992

* * * *

For Further Information Sidney Jones (212) 972972----84008400 Mickey Spiegel (212) 972972----84008400

News From Asia Watch is a publication of Asia WatchWatch,, an independent organization created in 1985 to momonitornitor and promote internationally recognized human rights in Asia. The Chair is Jack Greenberg, the Vice Chairs are HarriHarrietet Rabb and Orville Schell, and the Executive Director is Sidney Jones.

Asia Watch is a division of Human Rights Watch, whiwhichch includes Africa Watch, Americas Watch, Helsinki Watch and Middle East Watch. The Chair of Human Rights Watch is Robert L. BernsteinBernstein and the Vice Chair is AdrianAdrian DeWind. Aryeh NeNeierier is Executive Director; Kenneth Roth, Deputy Director; Holly Burkhalter, Washington Director; Susan Osnos, Press Director.

Asia Watch 33 September 1, 1992